Japan August Tokyo
Last year I was asked if I wanted to join the Silent muse traveling art project.
I work for an international company and connect with many people from different countries. Therefore, I was naturaly interested in this project because normally, living in Japan we mostly experience Japanese people and its own culture. So for me it was beautiful to share a physical thing and at the same time have an emotional connection with others in the world. In a time where everything is online, it is very rare to actually have something in hands.
It was exciting to open the package and read the note that came with it, this touched my feelings. The translated text in the logbook read naturally in Japanese. Later when I wrote in the travel log it gave me a nostalgic feeling and made me feel like a teenager writing in it’s diary.
The drawing fitted in my house and matched it naturally. I looked for somewhere to put it and decided to place the drawing in the dining room next to my grandmothers old dolls. An interaction between non Japanese art and old traditional Japanese decoration. Knowing it is now going to the next person feels like something is lacking. I am not familiair with art but the drawing fascinated me in the simple way it showed itself, a gorgeous decoration.
Altough I wanted to share the Art with friends, I was unable to due to Covid. I was most of the time in my house and the drawing became one of the family.
I feel fortunate to have had this experience with the Silent muse.
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Russia August Moscow
When I open the package it feels like opening a Christmas gift. The leather smell is nice to me. The poem is beautiful, I feel the same way as the words say.
I want the drawing in a more private space and the delicacy, silence and calmness of the drawing fits the bedroom. The drawing is the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing when I go to sleep. It becomes a special moment to start and finish the day this way.
Watching makes me calm and at ease, it gives me a quiet thinking moment. Normally I take no time for thinking, but after a busy day, looking at the picture is a good transfer to a calm stage, to a calm night.
The corona lockdown was difficult. The Silent Muse project gives a piece of hope. It is silently speaking to my heart and soul. Not loud but I can hear it. The drawing pushes me away from home, it tells my heart to go. It is magical. Traveling is what I like the most, so we make a journey to Turkey. The drawing brings me to myself, gives me support and hope.
Graphics is my type of art. The small measurements of the picture surprise me. The image of the drawing changes. Sometimes I see it like a border around my grandmothers home. The bottom of the picture is like the reflection of the sun in a river. Sometimes it has no image. It depends on the angle from where you looked at it. You just look through it and see it three dimensional.
Now it’s a sad feeling the drawing left the home. To me the biggest value of the project are the connections it gives. For instance: the ‘Beholder’ after me came to pick up the drawing by himself as he lives not too far from us. I would like to meet all the ‘Beholders’, for example at an exhibition.
When you have a box of seeds you can do two things: keep them in the box and in the end they will dy. I always try to put my seeds in different fields to see what’s growing out of it. This is one of those fields. The artist has seeds that grow this drawing and I have some seeds of interest. They connect with each other. I like that.
The husband:
I have a really technical and ‘non’ artistic view on this… The art given us for a limited time makes us very appreciative of it. When you have art in your home it becomes common to have it on the wall and it becomes static. But knowing it will just stay for a month, you start to notice. It is great that it has expression. It’s a travelling piece of art we can feel, we can embrace, can impress and then it follows someone else. The travel of this muse helps to get new connections. It helps to share new stories, call friends and talk about it. It helps us to bring something new in our usual life.
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USA August New York
I got aquinted with the project via a direct chat with Ellen and stept in naturally without thinking about it. I recall getting excited about sharing it and wanting to have a party around the drawing with friends and look at it together. However, due to Covid this was not possible. One friend came for dinner and she thought I had painted the drawing on my wall. She was very curious about the piece.
The drawing really emphasis and eventually got a prominent place above my fire place in the middle of the room. It was perfect as the muse didn’t jump at you but had a subtle clear presence.
I loved the leather wrapping, the natural material. Inside was the envelope with the travellog. This slowed me down and I opened it a few days later. If I was influenced by the words already written down, I am not aware of it. I had no recollection of what it said but I look forward to reading it again.
The drawing definitely changed something in the room. A life thing that gave out ease, contentment and a slowing down.
At first the drawing was very abstract. The more days past and the talking with my lover about it made me become aware of how much there was to see. It was like having a guest in the house. We commented on it like you do in a museum. It was new to have this experience in my own house.
The idea that 35 others somewhere in the world are having this same kind of experience feels incredible. There is a sort of shared intention, curious where the other two are right now.I found it compelling. It makes me feel connected, a personal shared experience, bigger than myself.
The fact that it leaves soon there will be a transition. The temporarity has an influence, a cool experience.
I am going to follow the travel with interest. More now after this personal involvement.
The most outstanding value of this project to me is the question Ellen asked me about- whether I made contact with myself via looking at the drawing? This question opened a lot of doors.
A new experience for me was the close interaction with the artist, loved it.